The lawyer representing New York City Mayor Eric Adams on five federal charges, Alex Spiro, has a history of representing high-profile clients, from Jay-Z to Alec Baldwin and many more. The prosecution of the case is being led by United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams.
Fordham Law Professor Zephyr Teachout spoke with Newsweek about Spiro and the challenges prosecutors will face moving forward.
Alex Spiro is serving as Adams’ attorney on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery, and to receive campaign contributions by foreign nationals; wire fraud; solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national; and bribery.
“Spiro is not just about whether a jury ultimately convicts. He’s also about shaping public opinion, and I think Adams is doing his best, but I don’t think he’s going to succeed,” Zephyr Teachout, a professor at Fordham Law School specializing in white collar crime and campaign finance law, told Newsweek.
Teachout, who is also a former Democratic candidate for New York Governor and Attorney General, said Adams is using Spiro to engage with key politicians in the Democratic party.
“Adams is speaking to Governor Hochul, to Chuck Schumer, to Hakeen Jeffries, through his lawyer and trying to use his lawyer, who’s being very public right now, to sow doubts about that investigation, so that you won’t see high profile elected officials calling for him to resign,” she said.
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The prosecution of the case is being led by United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams.
“Each of these, on their own, are very powerful charges and Damian Williams has shown the receipts, quite literally, in the indictment,” Teachout said. “And they’re also very powerful combined. Jurors don’t like luxury vacations. They don’t like coverups. And when you see the combination of the campaign finance, the fraud and the bribery charges, it’s a pretty damning cocktail. I’d say that Adams is in real trouble.”
Teachout said prosecutors also face some challenges going forward.
“Corruption cases, particularly federal bribery and federal wire fraud cases, have been bedeviled with constitutional challenges in recent years,” Teachout said. “I know there’s some disagreement about this, but I think that the prosecutors were very careful in trying to avoid some of the trap doors the Supreme Court has created in wire fraud and bribery cases.”
Read “Who is Alex Spiro? Celeb Lawyer Who Repped Jay-Z Handling Eric Adams’ Case” in Newsweek.
